Designed to expand access to French cinema and support film programming at American colleges and universities, Albertine Cinémathèque’s annual film selection engages with the greatest issues of our time while nurturing an enduring love for this diverse and evolving art form.
Albertine Cinémathèque provides extensive resources to its members, including a list of films handpicked by its committee for on-campus events, and many opportunities to bring filmmakers into the conversation with students.
Albertine Cinémathèque continues to support French film festivals on campus with its annual Festival Grant. Grantees will be selected by a committee of university faculty and will benefit from a grant of $2,400.
American Universities and Colleges faculty can Become a Member of Albertine Cinémathèque for free!
Albertine Cinémathèque Members can:
— Book films from our Film Selection for on-campus events or festivals.— Apply for our Film Festival Grant to help fund their very own French film festival on campus.— Invite Filmmakers for post-screening conversations with students, whether in-person or virtually.
Albertine Cinémathèque is thrilled to announce its Film Selection for 2025/2026 showcasing the best of French Cinema in the United States!
The Film Selection is composed of three distinctive parts:
— CONTEMPORARY FILMS— ALTERNATIVE LIST— CLASSIC FILMS
Albertine Cinémathèque provides US universities/colleges with a great selection of 22 contemporary films and 7 classics (including one short film) for French film festivals on US campuses. This selection highlights the dynamism and plurality of French Cinema represented by films by high profile filmmakers like Rithy Panh’s Meeting with Pol Pot and Francois Ozon’s When Fall is Coming, as well as films by acclaimed newcomers like Louise Courvoisier’s Holy Cow (Cesar for Best First Film and Best Female Revelation in 2025) and Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light (Grand Prix at Cannes 2024).
This year’s selection includes many award-winning films such as Mati Diop’s documentary, Dahomey, a groundbreaking film about the restitution of the treasure of the kingdom of Dahomey to Benin which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024, and the animated film, Flow by Gints Zilbalodis, which won the Academy award for Best Animated Feature film this year.
Our classic film selection spotlights the work of the celebrated filmmaker, René Clair, with two of his films, The Beauty of the Devil and The Crazy Ray, and offers students the opportunity to discover some of the most iconic French films of all time: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy, Army of the Shadows by Jean-Pierre Melville and The Wages of Fear by Henri-Georges Clouzot.
Albertine Cinémathèque is made possible by:
Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animée (CNC)
Sandrine Neveux | Program Officer sandrine.neveux@villa-albertine.org